U.S. Statement: Sanctioning Lawfare that Targets U.S. and Israeli Persons

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions on July 9, 2025, under President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14203 on ICC-related figures, targeting Francesca Paola Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian territories. He accused her of bias, anti-Semitism, support for terrorism, and orchestrating “political and economic warfare” by urging ICC investigations of U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives, even issuing arrest warrant recommendations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others, calling it an unacceptable infringement on U.S. sovereignty.

The following is the statement in its entirety.

Today, I am imposing sanctions on Francesca Paola Albanese, the United Nations Human Rights Council “Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967,” pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order 14203, “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court.” Albanese has directly engaged with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of those two countries. Neither the United States nor Israel is party to the Rome Statute, making this action a gross infringement on the sovereignty of both countries.

The United States has repeatedly condemned and objected to the biased and malicious activities of Albanese that have long made her unfit for service as a Special Rapporteur. Albanese has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West. That bias has been apparent across the span of her career, including recommending that the ICC, without a legitimate basis, issue arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

She has recently escalated this effort by writing threatening letters to dozens of entities worldwide, including major American companies across finance, technology, defense, energy, and hospitality, making extreme and unfounded accusations and recommending the ICC pursue investigations and prosecutions of these companies and their executives. We will not tolerate these campaigns of political and economic warfare, which threaten our national interests and sovereignty.

The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare, to check and prevent illegitimate ICC overreach and abuse of power, and to protect our sovereignty and that of our allies.

Source: “U.S. Statement: Sanctioning Lawfare that Targets U.S. and Israeli Persons,” U.S. Department of State, (July 9, 2025).